Media

OTTAWA, May 31, 2011  —  As part of its annual general meeting at Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, the national secretariat of the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) presented a $1000 merit scholarship to an outstanding student from each of its member institutions. The recipients are pursuing studies in health care, committed to helping a Francophone community in a minority setting and actively involved in student life at their institution.

At the University of Ottawa, two candidates caught the eye of the selection committee, whose members were Dave Holmes, vice-dean, academic, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jacynthe Carrière, clinical-placement and research coordinator, and Manon Tremblay, director of operations for the CNFS’s University of Ottawa Section.

Luc Cormier, from Bouctouche, New Brunswick, is studying nursing and will graduate in 2012. He has long understood the importance of offering French-language services to patients. “I grew up steeped in the reality of a minority French-language community,” he wrote in his letter of interest.

Kenton Staines, from Manitoba, has followed a totally different but equally fascinating path. His mother tongue is English and his family speaks no French; yet he completed his bachelor of science degree in French at Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and is now pursuing medical studies—again in French—at the University of Ottawa! Describing himself as someone “with plenty of self-confidence,” Staines says that “studying in French opens the way to serving a larger population […]. The more I study in French, the more I want to improve and the more I want to become involved in the Francophone community.”

Luc Cormier and Kenton Staines received their scholarships today and expressed their appreciation to the CNFS for allowing them to travel to Manitoba to collect their award along with fellow recipients from other partner institutions.

The CNFS is a pan-Canadian network of 11 colleges and universities offering French-language training in a range of health care disciplines and of five regional partners who ease access to these training programs. The CNFS also has a national secretariat, in Ottawa, whose role is to provide leadership and coordination and to foster development. This strategic alliance helps increase the number and expand the role of French-speaking health care professionals and researchers so that more quality health care services can be provided in French and be tailored to the needs of French-language minority communities. CNFS programs and initiatives are made possible thanks to the continued cooperation and financial support of Health Canada through its commitment to the Roadmap for Linguistic Duality.